The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c15.101

v4.c15.101

At the same time Akbar undertook the restoration of Āgra, the old brick fort of which had become ruinous. He had already adorned the city with two new buildings and he now gave orders for the construction of the fort of stone, which still stands, to replace the old fort. The new fort was fifteen years in building and cost three million and a half rupees, equivalent to nearly £400,000 sterling. According to Abu-’l-Fazl Akbar erected at Āgra “more than five hundred buildings of masonry, after the beautiful designs of Bengal and Gujarāt, which masterly sculptors and cunning artists of form have fashioned as architectural models”. The old Āgra of the Lodī dynasty, a comparatively mean town, lay on the left bank of the river and was replaced by Akbar’s magnificent city on the right bank, the name of which was altered by his grandson Shāh Jahān to Akbarābād and fittingly commemorates its great builder.